Youth work in the context of public Space

Youth work in the context of public Space

By: Joe Frankel 

2013 

When working with young people a common context that youth workers will find

themselves in is working within public space. When working with young people within

public space there can be some unique issues  arising that a worker must be equipped to

deal with. These include issues of perceptions of young people by other groups; young

people’s own fears in public space; alcohol and drug issues, anti social behaviour and

preventing boredom in public space (Hatzopoululos & Clancey, 2007 ). Public space work

with young people is unique in that it can encompass other fields of practice and still have

           

people who work in public space should employ. These include concepts such as consultation

processes, correctly identifying problems, facilitating participation of stakeholders, inclusive

responses, skill development and pooling of resources.

Before there is a definition of where community space practice can be practiced there must be

a definition of public space. Simply put, public space is any place people can

meet and socialise. Places that could be considered public space include parks, malls,

shopping centres skate parks, bike paths, railway stations/bus stops and car parks

Hatzopoululos & Clancey, 2007 ).  White and Wyn (2011) go further not just

describing public space as areas where young people congregate without purpose rather

describing them as places where young people congregate to make visible their identity by

showing the world who they are. This shows that public space is more than just a place to

hang out it is a place where young people express themselves and they develop their identify

which is an important part of human development. This makes public space practice an

essential field of practice in youth work broadly (White & Wyn 2011).

Identifying public space is not simply a list of the above areas. There are many

grey areas that also define what a public space is (White & Wyn, 2011). As  Hatzopoululos

and Clancey (2007) correctly identify shopping centres are accessed and used

as public space by many young people  and are seen to be public places for the sole purpose

of consumption (Shields, 2003) but in fact shopping centres are not considered public

space by definition as they are mostly privately owned (Lowe & Lovejoy, 2000). 

 As such young people accessing the space need to have fit into the mould of

consumption within the shopping centre or risk being excluded (White & Wyn, 2011). 

Shopping centres can offer good space to socialise with peers however because of this clash

between occupying space for socialisation and consumerism young people can often be

excluded from shopping centres because of they are not contributing financially to the

shopping centre (Nilan, Juilan & Germov, 2007). 

Because of media & moral panic in the public domain concerning young people accessing public space, young people rarely get to tell their side of the story (White and Wyn, 2011).  A young male who frequents Westfield Parramatta a shopping centre in Greater Western Sydney (GWS) explains that people label his peers as criminals when in fact the issue is that people don’t understand they just want to a place to have fun (Ahmed cited in Butcher & Thomas, 2003).  This experience is also highlighted by Crane (2010) that young people who have had negative experiences within their community feel that they have been negatively stereotyped and have had negative experiences in the way that people treat them (Crane, 2010).  Although these negative experiences of young people within public space are commonplace, it is important not to stereotype young people as there is diversity within this demographic as with any age bracket. Due to this, the experiences that young people will have in public space will reflect this diversity (Crane, 2010).  It is said that public space can have a huge role in young people shaping their identify therefore it is important that young people can positively engage with public space. As a youth worker it is important to help positively foster young people’s engagement with different public spaces (White & Wyn 2011).   When young people are excluded from public space however, it as almost always ideologically driven. An example of this occurred in 1997 at the Myer Centre in Brisbane’s CBD. A 14 year old male with a mohawk hairstyle was ejected not for behavioural concerns but  due to the ideological constructions others place on him due to his appearance (White & Sutton, 1995;  Crane, Adkins  & Marsden, 2000).

It is important that young people are included in public space for many reasons. These include the need to use them as meeting points, socialising areas, to sustain friendship networks, as an alternative to paid entertainment and also to strengthen friendship networks and meet new friends (Hatzopoulos & Clancey, 2007). In the Myer Centre example, this young person was denied this opportunity. There is clearly a lack of programs, activities and services occurring within public space even though it provides an opportunity to reach young people often at times when they most need it, such as the weekends when traditionally youth work organizations are closed (Hatzopoulos & Clancey, 2007).  One of the most effective service delivery models in public space practice is outreach which can engage young people where they meet, outside of normal business hours. Therefore it is important that services participate on all levels of practice from micro, the direct work with young people; to the mezzo, consultation, focus groups and issue identification; to the macro level, including local governments, state governments and federal governments participating in the planning and the funding of public space work (Hatzopoulos & Clancey, 2007). 

Public space practice can occur in various non-government organisations (NGOs), local,

State and Federal government contexts however the way it is delivered can be different

depending on the context of the agencies. For example an NGO may have a more direct

approach to working in a public space context than a state government body which means

practitioners would need a flexible professional skill set to suit the context in which they are

working.  An example of a service delivery program in the context of public space is National

Youth Week which involves various Federal, State, local government bodies and non-

government agencies.Youth week in New South Wales is funded and sponsored by the

Department of Education and Communities and sponsored by Transport NSW, and the NSW

Health's Sexually Transmitted Infections Programs Unit and Beyond Blue and it is

recommended that local Councils jointly fund events see attachment 1. These events are

examples of soft entry points because they engage young people and youth services in a

less formal domain than would otherwise be available in normal youth services settings

(Youth week NSW, 2013). 

Another aspect of public space practice with young people is that it provides opportunities to

gauge broader community insights than those of just the young people accessing

public space areas. Over the past decades people who are working in public space contexts

have seen public space become more contested (Nilan, Julian & Germov, 2007).   Because

of this underlying contest, a good practice principle is engagement and strategic planning

with stakeholders which include young people (White & Wyn, 2011). Although this is a good

practice principle, engagement with all stakeholders can be difficult especially when they

have opposing values and cultural norms this can hinder engagement  (Hill, 1988 ). Another

principle that workers should engage with in this context is to define and reflect on the role

they have taken on this. Some of the points they could reflect on include forming an

understanding of the role, how they will undertake it, how they will continue to improve

processes within that role and how they measure achievements (Knott & Scragg, 2010).

As already discussed, the role of youth workers in the context of public space varies

greatly, therefore it is important to define roles when working in the context of public

space. There are however some principles that should be employed when working with young

people. These include such things as inclusive consultations which is done to gain insights

and understandings of what the issues in that particular area are. Also it allows the

stakeholders of a particular public space to have a voice when looking at what is happening in

this public space. Problem identification skills are important as considering data gathered in

consultations and analysing it to make meaningful contributions help calm any issues that are

going on at that particular time. The ability to facilitate participation is also a very important

skill as it helps engage stakeholders with the issues and makes sure that marginalising the

concerns of people within that public space does not occur. Inclusive responses are important

because many responses to issues within public space practice can unknowingly marginalise

people and whilst an immediate response may fix some of the problems it can unknowingly

have consequences on other stakeholders. The pooling of resources is effective because it can

help achieve results that would not have been possible if a response was developed in

isolation.  Skills development is important for all industries who work within the domain of

public space because there are inconsistencies in how different agencies and sectors work

within public space. Skills development can help provide consistency and makes sure that 

people working within public space can be consistent when responding to issues. Whilst these

principles are listed separately for clarity it is suggested that these principles should be

considered together in the development of any response relating to young people accessing

public space (Hatzopoululos & Clancey, 2007).

 

Attachment 2 describes key policy and legislation relevant to public space practice. These are relevant to all age groups however it would be essential for a youth worker to be aware of current legislation affecting public space practice because legal issues arise constantly within public space work. However it is not just legislative law that interfaces with public space practice. Local government policy also affects public space practice for example in the area of planning guidelines. Common law also interfaces with public space, with issues such as duty of care being relevant (White and Wyn, 2011).   This table outlines legislation and key policy and State based legislation that regulates public space including the Security industry Act 1997  (Nsw). This impacts on young people as the legislation gives security guards the power  to guard, watch, or protect property with reasonable force s2(8). However what this legislation lacks is any specificity to what reasonable force looks like.  Two other key legislations in NSW that impact on a youth workers practice and the experience young people have in public space are Law Enforcement (Powers And Responsibilities) Act 2002 (Nsw) and the Crimes Act 1990 (Nsw) these pieces of legislation both interface with young people’s experiences of policing in public space however both have two separate functions. The Crime Act 1990 (NSW) s8 outlines that any offence, conduct or language made in an open or public place makes a person liable to apprehension. So therefore this act outlines broadly what is not acceptable in a public place. The Law Enforcement (Powers And Responsibilities) Act 2002 (Nsw) on the other hand outlines what the police can do within public spaces. It states that they have the ability to move people on without justification s197 (1). It does outline some examples of why people could be moved on for such as obstructing traffic or drinking in a public space. This act also allows police officers to disperse groups of people s198a (1). This may be of particular relevance as it is well documented in the literature that when young people access public space it is generally about connecting with peers and social networks (Hatzopoulos & Clancey, 2007).  An example of common law that interfaces with public space practice with young people is duty of care however it may not interface as one may think it often is used as way of excluding young people from spaces such shopping centres. The argument is often made that it is about public liability or duty of care obligations to customers but is used to exclude particularly indigenous and homeless young people and rather than being in response to illegal activity it seems more often than not that is judged on what can be described as annoying behaviour (Crane, 2000).  Youth Action, the peakbody for youth organisations in New South Wales describes duty of care as a holistic approach where the worker considers the safety of the young person and others, maintains confidentially, considers the needs of the client and remembers that each situation is different and needs to be assessed accordingly (Youth Action Duty of care guidelines, 2013). Examined against what Crane (2000) is implying, it would seem that duty of care is being used as a way to exclude young people without question based on what could be considered offensive behaviour. 

One of the ethical issues about public space practice with young people is how to police public space. There is a tension between young people accessing public space and socialising and the way that it is viewed by the rest of society (Butcher & Thomas , 2003).  This intensifies the issue of how to fairly police public space. Police describe it as being under siege caught between the fears of the community and the needs of young people to have access to public space (Butcher & Thomas, 2003).  White (1990) explains that there is an underlying tension between young people and other generations that is fuelled by various media and political outbursts and there is a tension of what is acceptable and what is not in regards to public space. Another ethical issue arises because of the diversity of young people and their subcultural groups. The argument is that workers should either be agents for fostering individualism or acting as social control agents (White, 1990). Both of these clashing ideologies are problematic when it comes to public space practice. Firstly promoting individualism between different cultural subgroups can inadvertently create a division between different young people’s sub cultural groups that can inadvertently create spatial barriers, causing young people who are not in those particular subgroups to be excluded from different areas of public space (Butcher & Thomas, 2003). An example of this is comes from Sydney where two different sub cultural groups inadvertently defined areas that young people could hang out based on what kind of pants they were wearing. The wearers of Addidas tracksuit pants and Billabong board shorts would often clash over spatial areas which created some discomfort within the community (Butcher & Thomas, 2003). The competing paradigm of youth workers as social control agents is not superior in its premise that certain ideas should be fostered to mediate what is seen as various forms of youth rebellion (White, 1990). The social control paradigm is also not ideal as it can lead to disengagement as it shown that young people who are socially included are more likely to participate within their communities (France, 2001). When working with young people White (1990) explains that there are two paradigms when working in the context of public space but each is not independent and that both of these should be taken into account.

As previously mentioned the unique aspect of working within a public space context is that it can encompass a variety of other fields of practice in the youth work sector Hatzopoululos & Clancey, 2007 ).  One of the areas that intersects with public space practice is drug and alcohol work with young people. One of the main drug and alcohol programs in NSW is SOS (Street Outreach Service). The main goal of SOS is to reach young people outside the context of an office space and to connect to people who may be marginalised by society by a pre existing drug habit. It aims to empower young people with information and referral pathways to make positive decisions about unhealthy lifestyle habits (Drug Arm, 2011).  When conducting outreach work within this sector two important practice principles outlined by Drug Arm are‘client centred service delivery’ and ‘respecting clients’ (Drug Arm, 2011). These practice principles are in line with what Dovetail considers good practice for youth workers working in this sector however Dovetail go into more detail about the approaches they use such as harm reduction, supply reduction and demand reduction but essentially  they are backed up by the same principles outlined by drug arm (Dovetail, 2012; Drug Arm, 2011). 

 As a human service worker how I conceive my role is centred upon Crane’s (2003) diagram which is based around service users’ rights, however I currently use this model more broadly to reflect on my own practice. The diagram offers a starting point for the first skill that I think is very important in public space work with young people and that is reflection. Reflection is important to practice because it help you integrate your own moral compass, organisational policy, broader socio-political  issues to form some idea of how you are going to proceeded with your public space work (Fisher & Somerton, 2010).  I believe that contextualising the space you working in is essential because the nature of public space is a complex issue encompassing  who owns the space, who is allowed to accesses and are there ideologies used to exclude people. When I look at public space I like to think of it as the plain where many systems interact with one another, coexist and sometimes clash. For these reasons I think systems theory can be employed to give an understanding of how people can interact with other systems within their environment (Payne, 2005).  The other theory that I think is of particular relevance to public space practice is structural theory as this can give a worker and understanding of how different structures within society can use their power to marginalise people (Payne, 2005). This can be seen in the case of shopping centres using their powers to exclude people based on ideological assumptions (Crane, Adkins  & Marsden, 2000).  It is essential that people reflect on their moral compass in this field of practice as so often the morals of young people in public space are often questioned by media and political bodies (White and Wyn, 2011).  I believe that based on what I have read and work I have done within public space it is essential for young people to develop social skills, sources of entertainment and a sense of freedom that can help develop their identity (Usien & Clancey, 2007).  Some of the key values that youth workers in public space should take into account include partnerships between young people and others when accessing public space; the involvement of young people in or having input into the management of public space; the establishment of a safe open forum where young people and other stakeholders of public space can voice their concerns; participation in the public space and understanding that young people aren’t just in a transient stage of development  “... just at that age’ but instead that young people are unique within our society and their culture deserves to be fostered (Usien & Clancey, 2007).

This essay discussed the concept of public space providing definition of the concepts an

challenges faced by youth workers in this field. It has outlined the major service types

available and models of service delivery. A discussion was provided of good practice

principles including the importance of ; inclusivity, problem identification, participation

facilitation, pooling of resources and skills development and recognition given to the fact that

these principles should be applied in an holistic response. There were two ethical concerns

identified. Firstly notions of community safety in public space and secondly dilemma for

youth workers of choosing appropriate practice strategies in order to either foster

individuality or act as social control agent fitting young people into society. It was concluded

that workers should apply these principles and use them in a complementary manner

according to the situation rather than viewing them as competing paradigms. Analysis was

also provided showing that public space is a unique practice context as it an arena where

other complicating practice context such drug and alcohol work can occur.  Finally a

reflection was provided which outlined my philosophy underpinning my practice within the

context of public space.

ASLI and Ahmed Case Study

• 
  Journal Video Asli and Ahmed

  The this video Journal follows my thoughts and feelings towards the case study below it also my thoughts and feelings are based on authoritative literature inclduing text books and journal articles so please enjoy and if you have any questions or you want to talk to me more about the casestudy please contact me on twitter @Johto_88 Thanks 

  
  

  Case Study Asli 19 year old female 

  Refugee from Somalia

  Asli left Somalia with her Mother, her younger brother Ahmed, her Mothers sister and two cousins after her Father and elder bothers were kidnapped and are now feared dead.   They lived in refugee camps in neighbouring Ethiopia for 8 years, in this time Asli's Mother died.   Eventually the family were granted humanitarian visas by the Australian Government and moved to Brisbane. Another Aunt and Uncle who live in Brisbane agreed to sponsor them. Asli was 14 years old, her brother Ahmed was 11. They now live in Moorooka with the Aunt and Uncle as well as her other Aunt and cousins who lived in the camps with them.  Asli and her family follow the Muslim faith, they attend Mosque regularly and follow religious traditions.  

   Asli attends Yeronga State High School and enjoys learning, although finds it difficult as her schooling was very disrupted in the camps.   She is trying to complete year 12 and hopes to enrol in a Certificate of Community Work at TAFE next year.   She also works part time at Target. Asli is strongly connected to the Somali community in Brisbane.

  Two months ago, while walking home at 9 pm from a late shift at Target she was attacked and raped. She now believes she may be pregnant.  Asli has told no-one about the attack, she is afraid it will bring shame on her family. She thinks they would believe she should not have been walking alone so late. She is particularly afraid of her Uncle's reaction; he sponsored Asli and her brother, and at times will use that against them. She has been traumatised by the attack and it has bought back memories of the violence of the camps and the horrors of her Father and brothers disappearance. She had believed that in Australia she would be safe. Asli has not sought any medical or legal help following the attack.

  She has come to you after finally telling one of her friends at school who was concerned at the change in Asli over the last couple of months. Asli doesn't want to talk to anyone from the African community.
• Housing

  
  

  Despite your very best efforts to support Asli in getting a pregnancy test, she has not done it, she is simply too afraid. But, she is also concerned that if she is pregnant it will be discovered, therefore she can’t stay at her Uncle and Aunt’s house. The house is also very crowded and she is unable to study. She does not want to ask anyone from her community for help due to the possible pregnancy. She is receiving Youth Allowance and works part time at Target but cant afford private rent, so is looking to move into supported accommodation.  Asli wants to move with her brother, he is 15 years old. He and their uncle clash a lot and Asli feels it is her job to look after him, she has taken on a parent role with him since their mother died despite being only a few years older.
• Crime

  
  

  Asli brings Ahmed to see you, he was picked up by the police following a violent clash between African and Anglo young people at the train station. Ahmed wasn’t involved, he was picked up while walking home unaware the fight had happened. This is not the first time he has been questioned by the Police over nothing. Ahmed got very angry with the police and abused them, he is now facing charges over the incident.
• Education

  
  

  Asli, without having a test discovers she is not pregnant, she is relieved, her delayed period was likely to be due to the trauma of the attack.  She is thinking about talking to her Aunt about it but she isn’t sure yet.

  Asli’s has always had trouble with school, years in a camp doesn’t provide a good educational foundation. However since the attack and with her concern about Ahmed her school work is really suffering. Her teachers are supportive to a point, but she is in year 12 and has to keep up if she wants to pass. Failing is not an option, her Uncle would be very angry, especially as she is the eldest and the first to go through school.

  Ahmed is increasingly not going to school and is hanging out now with the boys from the train station incident. Asli covers for him when his Uncle questions him about how he’s going.

  Despite the pressure from her Uncle, Asli is pleased she did not move out, especially given how Ahmed is travelling.
• Employment

  
  

  Asli comes to see you as she is worried about her job at Target.  Asli has been employed as a casual for almost 3 months and has been seen as a good worker, her boss has even commented on her approach to work. Because Asli has been really struggling at school and getting behind in her schoolwork she has knocked back a couple of shifts recently so she could focus on catching up and getting ready for upcoming exams. This week she rang to see what shifts she was on and was told they had not rostered her, that it was obvious she wasn't interested in working there anymore. Asli is devastated at the thought she might have lost her job, she enjoyed the job despite the juggle with schoolwork, and the family need the extra money she brings in. 
• Health

  Ahmed comes to see you, he didn’t know who else to go to. He confides in you that he is worried about Asli, he hears her crying out in the night. He starts to talk about his memories of the camp and the way Asli looked after him, protected him. He is shaking as he talks, his words come haltingly. He says Asli shielded him from some of the worst things, but he remembers that she was sometimes taken away and came back very quiet, she cried out in her sleep then too. Ahmed gives you permission to tell Asli he has spoken to you. You have been wondering if this conversation might come, and how you might handle it. That night (not for the first time with these two) you lose sleep.
• Leisure, culture, public space

  
  

  It has been a big week, you have been having some conversations with Asli that you find really challenging. There is a Somali community festival on the weekend. Asli invites you to come. She will be working at one of the stalls but is happy for you to drop by and say hello. A few of you from work decide to go. At the festival you see Asli at the stall, she looks happy, more relaxed than you’ve seen her for a while. Seeing this reminds you how important Asli’s community is to her and you wonder how you can work with her to talk to them about her nightmares and even about the attack. You notice a few support services have stalls, so you collect some info.

  You also notice that Ahmed is not there, as you leave you see him and a few other African young men sitting around the corner. They appear to be drinking, you decide not to approach him.
• Technology

  
  

  Asli comes to see you; she is really upset and angry. She has just received a $680.00 bill for her mobile phone. She tells you she has always been really careful about using the phone and really only carries it for safety. She had thought the bill might be a mistake until she realised that Ahmed had been using her phone and the calls were his. She is really angry at Ahmed and has no idea how she can pay the bill, especially since she isn’t working.  She also shows you some texts on there that Ahmed has written that concern her.
• Ending

  
  

  While you feel reasonably confident in your capacity to work on the issues that keep coming up for Asli and Ahmed you know there are much deeper issues that have not really begun to be addressed. You have mentioned QPASTT before but Asli and Ahmed haven’t been keen to follow it up, Asli has been worried about community and family finding out.

  However Asli is recognising that she needs counselling, that the night terrors aren’t going to go away. So together you have made a referral for her to the QPASTT counsellors, she asks you to go with her to meet them. They acknowledge her concerns about people knowing what’s going on for her and try to allay her fears. After that first visit you see that Asli has made a connection and she is happy to go back.

  After the festival Ahmed’s Uncle realised that Ahmed was not doing well. Ahmed tells you his Uncle talked him into signing on to the QPASTT soccer team, hoping it will give him something to do and maybe meet some other friends. Ahmed has been training and tells you he really likes it, and that some of the other boys have been through similar stuff. Ahmed also thinks he might go to the homework club, but isn’t sure yet.  Ahmed's court date has been postponed, Ahmed tells you he has told his Uncle about it and he will go with him. Ahmed is still hanging out with a couple of boys from the train station crew but not as much, he’s pleased his Uncle didn’t throw him out for drinking and doesn’t want to disappoint him by getting into trouble again. He says his Uncle told him he might get locked up if he's seen with the boys from the station.

  You reflect on this past two months and all the work you’ve done together; and all that these two have given you. You know that they have a long road ahead but feel very privileged to have been part of the journey.

  
  

  
  

  
  

young people and the impacts of media constructions

There is a competing paradigm in the media’s representation of youth.  When it markets beauty products for example, it emphasises the importance of looking and being youthful. However when it markets young people as a group, the media generally perpetuate negative stereotypes of young people. This paper will critically analyse a media article by looking at theoretical aspects of young people that could be applied. It will consider the tone of the article and   also consider the impacts that these stereotypes and theoretical perspectives have on young people. It will also consider an alternative portrayal that the media article could take on  young people.

The media article chosen comes from the Gloucestershire Echo in the UK. It labels a teenage boy as a feral. This is similar to a recent string of media reports done by channel Seven’s Today Tonight program (Today Tonight, 2012).  The article from the Gloucestershire Echo uses words and statements like ‘Feral ‘and ‘These crimes are made even more serious by the fact that you are 12 and 16’ (Gloucestershire Echo, 2012).   Young people are often perceived by the media in a negative light rather than as competent citizens (Checkoway et al, 2003).  The use of the language like that stated above shows newspaper’s representation of young people as portraying a position or perspective through language (Simpson, 1993).   The problem is that media perspectives and representations like this one can quickly filter into the political and public domain (Omaji, 2003).   Journalistic ethics pride themselves on fair and balanced accounts (Ward, 2009). This article however lacks some details about social factors that can affect young people’s offending behavior, including such factors as family issues, ethnic background, mental illness, drug use and intellectual capacity (White & Wyn, 2008).  This information may provide a better background to what was happening with that young person at that particular time and there are many theories to account for young people committing crimes.

A sociological theory that can be applied throughout this news article is that of Merton’s theory of deviance.  Merton argues that deviance is caused by the interplay between society structure and culture. It builds on and critiques the idea of functionalism (Blackman, 2007).  The key ideas that functionalism asserts is there are just some things that people need to do to survive, such as getting a good education (source).  Merton shared these views but also added that sometimes structures may not always be able to fulfill the needs of the person causing the problem to arise (Blackman, 2007; York & Marcus, 2009). Give an eg of such problems (outside of the article)  to demonstrate your understanding of this point.  The media article has some clear parallels with Merton’s theory as it portrays the clash of ideals between the dominant ideology of the establishment and the young person as rebelling against society through the criminal acts as is evident in the magistrate’s comment  "A charge of an offence such as this would take many respectable people's breath away...” yes, the key issue here is the use of the word respectable – unpack that word to give your argument more strength.

This media article quite clearly labels the young people in the article as ‘Ferals’. However due to the lack of academic resources it is hard to construct a theoretically based image of what a feral is. The only definition available describes the feral subculture as ‘sporting ‘a shaved head with crusty hair out the back, kinda anti-intellectual’ Good quote  J (Edwards & Mercer, 2008).  This raises the idea that the newspaper is trying to explain their  actions through the subculture that they have assigned them.  Subcultures can be formed on the basis of music and recreational activities  (White & Wyn, 2008).  In some instances certain subcultures can be problematised (Carrington, 2009). This was evident in post war Britain when subcultures between young people became highly visible which in turn created a moral panic and in turn public space became a contested area of young people’s subcultures (teddy boys) and police (Carrington, 2009).  The media article makes reference to a sub-cultural group ‘ferals’and paints the picture of the young person as a transient drifter ‘it seems like he lives a feral lifestyle in the sense that he has not been staying at home’.  The Newspaper questions his lifestyle and labels it within a particular sub cultural group ‘feral’. Some academic literature suggests that feral subculture is based on peoples’ standing in the labour market, political views and looks (Edwards & Mercer, 2008; Gleder, 2007; John, 1999). There is a lack of research in this field that links the feral subculture with criminal activity. It would seem that the newspaper used subculture as way of defining the young person as a deviant and used language to portray them and a particular subculture in a certain perspective (Simpson, 1993).  This is good, but could be restructured to make your point clearer. It jumps around a bit and therefore becomes a bit repetitive.

Stories like these do not only have an impact on individual young people but can have far wider effects on them as a group. As mentioned above, Omaji (2003) explains that media bias can quickly filter into political and public domain. This can impact on young people greatly as media bias and public opinion can filter into the political arena and can affect policy and legislation that is used to police young people. This is shown by moves towards things such as naming and shaming and mandatory sentencing rather than other options such as more socially focused polices such as ….(Omaji, 2003).  Adams (as cited in Omaji 2003, p. 3-4) comments that he is disgusted that policies such as those mentioned above are being used more often and quotes the bible in saying what ever happened to “love your enemy”.

Negative labels and stereotypes are formed when we consistently associate them with certain traits and preconceived ideas (Bernburg & Krohn, 2003).  Negative labels and stereotypes such as those within the media article can alter young people’s self concepts of who they are (Anderson & Schoen, 1985).  Labelling and stereotyping young people can also substantially alter a young person’s life course especially if they have been labelled as deviant. This reduces opportunities for a normal life in the functional sense (Bernburg & Krohn, 2003).  Bernburg and Krohn (2003) also discuss that labeling and stereotyping have been indirectly linked to negative behaviour because of the opportunities missed due to the label or stereotype. Good, now link it back to your article – to what extent might labeling have played a part for these young people?

One of the issues this article ignored was the social factors that could have been impacting on the young person’s behavior.  As mentioned above the article did not discuss any of the social factors that can impact on young person’s offending behaviors (White & Wyn, 2008). In order to have a balanced argument these factors should have been included.  There is evidence to support the family and community environments impacting on the offending behavior. Andrews & Bonitas (2010) longitudinal studies found there is a greater likelihood for young people being involved in criminal activity if their families are involved in crime.  The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) supports the idea of investing in socio-economic status of communities but also takes a functionalist view of assisting young people to grow out of their offending behaviors explain further …(Richards, 2011).  Studies of young person’s behaviour have tended to focus on the individual rather than broader society wide aspects (Rutter, Giller & Hagell 1998).  This goes against White and Wyn’s (2008) notion of looking at young people and crime in a holistic manner. Some of the issues that the article could have looked at included the socio-economic status of person, family issues and drug use (White & Wyn, 2008; Auther, 2005).

The second point that could be argued is that this media representation is not a true reflection of young people and further analyses that the media portrayals of young people such as this can affect attitudes, beliefs and actions of young people and adults (Checkoway et al, 2003). This has been demonstrated in the United States where studies found New York Times coverage over represented young people’s involvement in crime at a time when crime rates for young people were falling (Figueroa et al, as cited in Checkoway et al, 2003).  This study showed that peoples’ attitudes reflected media coverage and a majority of Americans believed that the youth crime rate was on the rise (Figueroa et al, as cited in Checkoway et al, 2003).  The article focuses on the young peoples’ behaviour but does not go to any lengths to tell readers that the UK has successful early intervention programs that has seen crime rates and recidivism of young people at their lowest levels  a good point to make – links well with discussion above re NY Times article. (Ashford, 2007).  This media article does not attempt to put youth crime into perspective White and Wyn (2008) state when young people are charged with an offense it usually is for offenses like riding a train without a ticket, noise complaints and destruction of property. As explained by Simpson (1993) this media article uses language to state a point or position but when looking at an article like this it seems that it is based on community ideologies rather than based on academic evidence.  These last two points while good need to be examined further to ensure they don’t read like they were just added at the end.

This essay has considered how the article has constructed an image of young people. It then used ideas from different theoretical perspectives to describe young people and their actions. It then looked at the impacts that these perspectives can have on young people as a group and as an individual. Finally it produced an alternative view of young people. Overall the article emphasizes a representation of young people to perpetuate society’s stereotypes through language which presents a negative connotation to society of an already marginalised group.

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